Thursday, July 02, 2015

Reflections on a week of import

Father and Son

PANAMA CITY BEACH — My son, Nathan, turned 27
earlier this week. I don’t know about how you respond to the passage of such
dates, but that day made me look back at myself at 27 and try to imagine where
I thought life would take me then.

I turned 27 in 1991, just a month after Nathan’s
third birthday and couple of months before my daughter was born. I was back in
college after several years of working for a retail outlet — on my way to a
degree in Journalism, finally, and working freelance for a couple of local
publications to help cover the bills.

Two years later, I would be hired by The News Herald
and move my little family to Panama City. But in ’91, we had a spitz puppy
named Everest and lived in a house owned by my mother, and I had dreams of
making it as a reporter and novelist.

I still do.

Looking at my 51st birthday looming now, it would be
easy to say the best days are in the past and to worry what the future holds.
But I have to say, we (as a family) have weathered some dark days in the
interim, and we hope for some great ones still to come.

As I sit here, writing this on the day my latest novel begins its serialized release on Amazon Kindle, I know that there are
still stories to tell — indeed, more than I will ever have time to write down —
still milestones to reach and wonders to witness. The marriage of children and
birth of grandchildren, for instance. The next laugh at a lunch table.

I have more close friends today than at any time
since high school. I have great expectations for my children, and a certain
assurance that they have acquired the skills and strengths they will need to
flourish even when I’m gone.

At 27, things were just getting started and I was
struggling to find my way. At nearly 51, though some days can make me feel my
age, I still have a sense that things are just getting started. I still
struggle, still have worries. But most days the path is there, if I take a
moment to see it.

How about you? Are you finding your path? Can you
look back and see the trajectory that brought you here?